Saturday, 31 December 2016

Thanks for all the entries for last week's challenge - lovely to see what you'd been up to in the immediate days leading up to Christmas and beyond. I hope you all had a lovely time.

I hope others will join me in making a resolution to get some Christmas creations made throughout the year, which is the reason why I started this challenge blog six years ago. There will be some changes in the new year, but with the main emphasis still on getting Christmas designs done throughout the year.

Please note that my email to send to is craftyhazelnut@gmail.com

Before I tell you about this week's challenge, I need to let you know the winners of challenge 313. There were four opportunities to win a prize.

The first winner:

Number 1: Kath, who shared these lovely cards:

Congratulations, Kath. Please email me at craftyhazelnut@gmail.com with your full name and address so I can arrange for you to receive your lucky dip pack of Kanban products from Foil Play.

The second winner:

Number 53: Birgit, who shared four lovely cards - this is one of them:

Congratulations, Birgit. Please email me at craftyhazelnut@gmail.com with your full name and address so I can arrange for you to receive your CD-rom from Ooh la la Creations.

'Crafty Ribbons are a friendly UK company designing and producing exclusive ribbon designs, as well as stocking a broad range of organza, grosgrain and satin ribbons. We have a huge range of lace and buttons too :-)

Welcome to the World's largest Craft Megastore and the home of Crafty Bob. Over 550,000 Craft Downloads including Card Making, Knitting, Needlework, Scrapbooking, Designer Resources, Craft Supplies, Hobbies and Handmade Finished Cards. Plus Craft Projects, Videos, Ideas, Crafting Competitions and Fun Crafty Bob Craft Games. If you are creative and love crafting then you are going to love craftsuprint.com!'

There are so many freebies on their website that you don't have to wait to see if you are a winner ... you can all take advantage of the generosity of Craftsuprint.

Please visit the websites of these generous sponsors and support them - you will be spoiled for choice!

Please look down the sidebar on the right to see all of the sponsors giving out prizes during this year - quite a few new ones as well as others who have been giving generously in the past. I am so thankful for everyone coming on board to support me. When buying your crafting goodies, please click on the links to see what's on offer in their online stores and support them as much as you can with your orders.

Last week I showed some quick cards that I made recently using some lovely Elisabeth Bell toppers - here are some more that were made before Christmas with Kaisercraft background papers - you can read about them on My Crafty Outlook:

Now it's over to you. As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques - and this week it's anything goes as long as it's Christmas

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your creation can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 6 January 2017. Please include a link to this blogpost within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on Saturday 7 January, 2017 - please come back then to hear about the changes being made from then onwards.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

Please also consider going to CHNC Facebook page and clicking 'like' if you haven't done so already and encourage your friends to do the same. We now have 498 'likes' thanks to some more friends who have joined in this week - but there's plenty of room for more! We are so near the 500 now - we just need 2 more to get there. I always try to show at least one of my creations for the next challenge in advance and it's a good place to catch up with any news, winners etc.

Don't forget that 'anything goes' monthly challenges are on my Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra blog - you can share any Christmas creation you make throughout the whole month, including those that you link here - there is no restriction on the number of entries you can make throughout the month - the link for CHNC challenge extra for December is here.

I also run a challenge blog called Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - anything goes as long as you use some patterned paper - a randomly chosen prize winner every month. Please click on the link to find out more. If you have used patterned paper for your Christmas creation, why not enter it there too. And please be aware that the Patterned Paper Challenge is not restricted to Christmas - it is for any occasions as long as some patterned paper has been used.

Saturday, 24 December 2016

What a fantastic response to last week's challenge. Please forgive me if I didn't get round to commenting on your entries. It's been another of 'those weeks' (trouble is that we seem to get one of them every week). John has had a chesty cold, resulting in a visit yesterday by a response team nurse, to be followed up today (Saturday) ... and I've got a cold, mainly a sore throat ... trying to get everything done for Christmas ... two lots of food shopping this morning, so anything we haven't got we will do without ... and there's only the two of us and the shops will be open again so soon after Christmas that it's just like a normal weekend really!

I know that you probably won't be actually making Christmas things this week, but perhaps you might like to show some of the cards you made, but didn't have time to blog ... I'd love to see them here (and, of course, on my CHNC challenge extra as well).

By the time this challenge gets going, it will be Christmas day, Boxing Day ... and then we will be looking to New Year, so I wish you

Happy Christmas, everybody!

Please note that I publish the prize winners here and on our facebook page, but don't notify winners individually - it is up to you all to check to see if you have won and email me as requested. There are one or two unclaimed prizes, so it's worth having a look back to see if you were a winner.

Please note that my email to send to is craftyhazelnut@gmail.com

Before I tell you about this week's challenge, I need to let you know the winners of challenge 312. There were four opportunities to win a prize.

'Foil Play has an enormous selection of crafting staples from classic tried and tested brands for all occasions at great prices. Speedy despatch is always a priority, UK p&p is free on all orders over £10 and you'll get free Kanban die cut toppers if you spend over £20.'

The randomly chosen winner will receive a lucky dip pack of Kanban products.

'We are a small family fun online company that offers crafters fun and whimsical unmounted rubber stamps, digital stamps as well as cutting dies all from our very own exclusive range. Perfect for your cards and scrapbooks! Our stamps are made from deep etched grey rubber and our cutting dies are made from good quality metal from the USA and UK. We also stock essential craft products for your scrapbooking and card making needs.'

The randomly chosen winner will receive three digis of their choice from Crafty Sentiments:.

"Lizzy has always loved the stranger, quirkier side of life and that is exactly what she loves to create. Her art described as a perfect combination of sweet and sour that glitters up the grunge! As a lover of all things whimsical, kawaii and creepy cute, she throws in some Pastel Goth with a touch of glam, punk & rockabilly pinup!She has certainly never been a mainstream type of girl and definitely won't fit into your stereotypical cookie cutter artists role; but rather she finds beauty in the truly unique, big eyed creepy little cuties with a bittersweet sadness. She is never truly happier then when she is in her art studio painting or sewing, creating a whimsical dream world easily recognizable as her signature style of creepy yet cute, all the way from the haunting darkness to the rainbowtastic, Lizzy’s creations are lovingly sprinkled with a heartbreaking sweetness.Growing up a child of the 80's, pop rocks princess, with an extreme fondness for anything candy coated, Kawaii Kitten & Ziggy Stardust, all of which had a major influence in the work that she is creating today. Lizzy employs many different mediums when she creates, anything from mixed media painting to sewing with many different textiles, the end result always being the same; A whimsical dream world filled with big eyed beauties, creepy little cuties and quirky monsters of all shapes and sizes."

Please visit the websites of these generous sponsors and support them - you will be spoiled for choice!

Please look down the sidebar on the right to see all of the sponsors giving out prizes during this year - quite a few new ones as well as others who have been giving generously in the past. I am so thankful for everyone coming on board to support me. When buying your crafting goodies, please click on the links to see what's on offer in their online stores and support them as much as you can with your orders.

Here are some quick cards that I made recently using some lovely Elisabeth Bell toppers - you can read about them on My Crafty Outlook (they should be there later today!):

Now it's over to you. As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques - and this week I'd like you to add a sentiment to your Christmas design.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your creation can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 30 December 2016. Please include a link to this blogpost within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on Saturday 31 December 2016 (can you believe - that's New Year's Eve?!?) when there will be three prizes thanks to generous sponsors.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

Please also consider going to CHNC Facebook page and clicking 'like' if you haven't done so already and encourage your friends to do the same. We now have 498 'likes' thanks to some more friends who have joined in this week - but there's plenty of room for more! We are so near the 500 now - we just need 2 more to get there. I always try to show at least one of my creations for the next challenge in advance and it's a good place to catch up with any news, winners etc.

Don't forget that 'anything goes' monthly challenges are on my Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra blog - you can share any Christmas creation you make throughout the whole month, including those that you link here - there is no restriction on the number of entries you can make throughout the month - the link for CHNC challenge extra for December is here.

I also run a challenge blog called Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - anything goes as long as you use some patterned paper - a randomly chosen prize winner every month. Please click on the link to find out more. If you have used patterned paper for your Christmas creation, why not enter it there too. And please be aware that the Patterned Paper Challenge is not restricted to Christmas - it is for any occasions as long as some patterned paper has been used.

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Please note that I publish the prize winners here and on our facebook page, but don't notify winners individually - it is up to you all to check to see if you have won and email me as requested. There are one or two unclaimed prizes, so it's worth having a look back to see if you were a winner.

Please note that my email to send to is craftyhazelnut@gmail.com

Before I tell you about this week's challenge, I need to let you know the winners of challenge 311. There were four opportunities to win a prize.